News
- Movie tie-ins negatively affected by COVID. Hollywood loves building on existing IP, and publishers benefit in the form of book sales. But the pandemic has shifted release dates and affected distribution strategies. Read Karen Raugust at Publishers Weekly.
- Hudson’s not doing so bad. The travel bookstore often found in airports speaks with Publishers Weekly about sales trends. Read Ed Nawotka.
- A closer look at employee-owned publisher Chelsea Green. Right now, the publisher is best known for publishing Joseph Mercola’s book on COVID-19, which is often accused of spreading misinformation about vaccines. The company has a catalog of more than 400 titles related to organic food and climate movements. But Chelsea Green also publishes titles that advocate vaccine skepticism, which is common among some wellness communities. Read Chelsea Edgar in Monterey County Weekly.
Politicians & Publishing
- Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo ordered to forfeit book earnings. He was paid more than $5 million by Penguin Random House for his 2020 pandemic memoir. Cuomo will fight the order. Read Andrew Albanese in Publishers Weekly.
- Chris Cuomo’s book has been canceled by HarperCollins. The brother of Andrew Cuomo also recently lost his job at CNN after it was revealed he’d used his position to help his brother. Read Adrian Horton at The Guardian.
- Random House allowed to rent a politician’s email list to promote his book. The Federal Election Commission will let Random House use Rep. Adam Schiff’s campaign email list to promote his October 2022 book, Midnight in Washington—as long as Random House pays fair market value for the list and “no Committee resources or personnel would be used to promote the book.” Until now, individual politicians were allowed to rent their own campaign email lists for other purposes, but this is the first time that ability has been extended to a publisher. Read Roger Sollenberger at The Daily Beast.
Hot-Button Issues
- Are Web3 and NFTs the future or a scam? The person who defined Web 2.0 nearly two decades ago comments—with needed history and context—on Web3. The article is readable and understandable by nearly anyone. Read Tim O’Reilly at Radar.
Culture & Politics
- A case for withdrawing the genre of Christian fiction. The category is assigned to novels published by Christian faith-based publishers and gets shelved in the religion section of bookstores. But the story lines are rarely Jesus driven. Read Chelsea Leah at Lit Hub.
- How Native American storytelling differs from Western narratives. To start with, stories are nonlinear and don’t necessarily have a beginning or ending. Read Dan SaSuWeh Jones at School Library Journal.
- Twitter, the intimacy machine: The platform invites intimate, high-context speech. Then it crushes that intimacy. Read C. Thi Nguyen at The Raven.
- The appeal of artists who won fame after death: We are attracted to them because their success offers hope that genius is bound to triumph in the end. Read Emily Bobrow at The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
- Is self-censorship a problem for writers? At a recent PEN America event, several big names in the literary world debated art, identity, appropriation, and the state of free expression. Read Jennifer Schuessler at The New York Times.
- Anne Rice’s final interview: The author answered questions from The New York Times Book Review shortly before her passing. Read.
Marketing Toolbox
- Why crafting a book recommendation list can help you sell your own book. The founder of Shepherd, a book recommendation service, offers a case study showing how such lists can be powerful marketing tools. Read at Shepherd.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.